Nicola Sturgeon was today told she has 'serious questions to answer' over the SNP embezzlement scandal as her estranged husband faces years in jail. The former Scottish first minister and SNP leader was urged to provide 'transparency and accountability' over the 'absolutely shocking' case.
Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and Ms Sturgeon's estranged husband, on Monday pleaded guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the party. He is due to be sentenced on 23 June.
Following his guilty plea, a list of the items he purchased with the money was revealed in court papers. He used the cash to buy a £125,000 campervan and other luxury goods including Lalique salt and pepper grinders worth £2,600 and Fortnum and Mason advent calendars at £200 a pop. A £425 necklace is also one of the items Murrell, 61, admitted buying with funds he embezzled from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022.
He is understood to have bought Ms Sturgeon the gold pendant inspired by the Northern Lights when the couple visited Shetland Jewellery in July 2019. Murrell reportedly told a jewellery shop owner, 'I'm the man with the money' when he visited. Ms Sturgeon was seen wearing the pendant necklace on several occasions that summer and in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
Ms Sturgeon announced that she and Murrell had decided to end their marriage in January 2025. Kenneth Rae, who ran Shetland Jewellery until his retirement, said he was working the day Murrell and Ms Sturgeon came into the shop on July 28 2019. He told BBC Scotland: 'They came in and then Peter Murrell said, while his wife was in the workshop area, 'I'm the man with the money. I need to buy something'. We were happy he wanted to buy something.' He added: 'Nicola did wear that pendant quite often and you can see it on television and we're very popular of the fact that she was wearing a bit of Shetland Jewellery.'
Mr Rae said that, a few years later, two police officers came up from Glasgow to interview people in the workshop as part of their investigation. He said: 'We were surprised to hear that two policemen were coming up to Shetland to interview us specially about our sale of a gold pendant to Peter Murrell.'
Anna Turley, the Labour Party chair, said Ms Sturgeon had 'serious questions to answer' about what she knew about the embezzlement and Murrell's 'lavish' spending. She told GB News: 'It's gobsmacking, to be honest, I was really shocked to hear the scale of the money involved. This lavish spending is really quite shocking, and I think the SNP and Nicola have serious questions to answer. I don't know all the details, we don't know what she did or didn't know, but I think serious questions have to be asked, because it's just not acceptable. We're here for public service, and when this kind of act is being undertaken, it's absolutely shocking. It brings all of politics into disrepute. They need some transparency and accountability, and there are some serious questions to be answered here.'
Ms Sturgeon has said she 'had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds.' In a statement released through her lawyer, Aamer Anwar, Ms Sturgeon said she and Murrell had separate bank accounts and she had no access to his financial records. She said: 'In relation to many of the items in question, for example expensive watches and games consoles, I was not aware of them having been purchased at all. Indeed in relation to the item of largest value – a campervan – I was not aware of its existence until it featured in the police investigation in early 2023, nor was it parked in our driveway as has been claimed by some. In respect of any items I was aware of Peter having purchased, I had no reason to doubt that he had used his own money. We were both earning high salaries and, due to the responsibilities of my job, rarely socialised or went on holidays. We had separate bank accounts and I had no access to his financial records.'
Earlier on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said she was 'utterly appalled' that her former husband had used the party's money for personal purposes. She accepted there would be a 'political discussion in the light of what has happened' but the former first minister said that for her this 'has also been a profound personal trauma.'
